Over the years, direct mail marketing has proven to be highly profitable for businesses—especially when used in conjunction with digital campaigns. This unique marketing tactic involves sending a variety of marketing materials, including, but not limited to sales letters, postcards, catalogs, brochures, self-mailers, and more. Direct mail marketing’s power is in the details, as brands can maximize their marketing investment by reaching the exact customer who has been looking for their offer all along.
Taking it a step further, personalizing the direct mail you send to prospects and customers ensures that your brand provides a next-level customer experience and doesn’t become another piece of junk mail. With these strategic tips and tricks for personalized direct mail, your brand will stand out like never before. At United GMG, we recognize how important it is for your brand to get direct mail right to optimize response rate and return—and personalization is a great start.
What Exactly Is Personalized Direct Mail?
Personalized direct mail is all about creating targeted and relevant pieces for each recipient. It’s more important than ever to engage personally with customers—and personalized direct mail automates the direct mail process so that each direct mail piece looks like it has been specifically and uniquely designed and printed for a single person.
But how do you do this for your prospects and customers? Data is the key.
Leveraging Variable Data Printing (VDP)
Variable Data Printing (VDP) is also known as database-driven, personalized, or one-to-one marketing. With VDP, you can produce customized printed documents by specifying text and graphics that are then replaced using a database. Mix and match images and messaging to make your direct mail more personal and relevant to each recipient—which in turn will increase the number of measurable responses you receive.
Choose the factors that make the most sense for your brand, such as demographic target or physiological group, for example. With the help of your data, you can customize and tailor your brand message based on your customers’ demographics, geographical location, psychographics, and more.
How Does VDP Work?
VDP works by pulling dynamically generated headlines, names, offers, addresses, graphics, or images from a database and inserting them into a mail design or template based on a variable piece of data they’re matched to in your print files.
The key components of VDP are the determining the right customer, connecting data and design, and relaying the right messages.
The Right Customer
- Who is the right customer?
- What do you know about them?
- Do you have data fields that define them?
- How accurate is the data?
Connecting Data & Design
- How can the data drive a more relevant message or offer?
- How does the data translate to personalization?
- What components of the design will be variable?
The Right Messages
- How will you design for varying text and images?
- How will the personalization be applied?
- Will you provide different messages or offers based on personal data?
Connecting VDP Direct Mail and Digital Marketing
Personalized direct mail marketing is an even more robust tool when used in conjunction with digital campaigns. This strength is due to the fact that direct mail with a cross-channel boost and flexibility can generate an increased return, gather customer information, and develop your brand.
Including online specific offers or coupons in your direct mail marketing strategy is crucial to a winning campaign because it requires less effort to process than digital media. Including a small digital element in direct mail can make a massive difference for digital campaigns because direct mail shows an improved understanding and memory retention for customers.
Further, by adding personalized direct mail into your retargeting strategy, you can take advantage of a less saturated channel and reach those who have become unresponsive to digital outreach.
Benefits of Personalized Direct Mail
Some benefits of personalized direct mail include:
- Makes your prospects and customers feel important
- Improves customer experience
- Emphasizes relevance
- Increases customer retention
- Enhances brand loyalty
- Helps increase response rates
- Reaches those who are unresponsive to digital outreach
- Strengthens your omnichannel marketing
- And more!
Direct Mail Personalization Options
The opportunities to provide different offers based on targeted, personally relevant data are endless. Here are some possible personalization options your business could take advantage of for your next direct mail campaign:
- Include the recipient’s name in greetings, headings, or images
- Use uniquely relevant information within the text
- Communicate on a higher level by including a handwritten note
- Customize offers and messaging based on individual purchase history
- Provide a URL or QR code that sends individuals to a webpage that includes personal information and imagery created for their specific interests
- Wish your prospect or customer a happy birthday with an offer or special invitation to redeem online
- Use personalized direct mail in conjunction with the digital campaigns you are running as another, more tactile touchpoint
- Add personalized direct mail into your retargeting strategy to reach out to prospects and customers who have been unresponsive to digital outreach
Get Started on Your Personalized Direct Mail Campaign Today
Your business is sure to benefit from the impact that personalized direct mail marketing has on individuals. At United GMG, we are here to support you through the process of integrating personalized direct mail marketing successfully into your campaign, so let’s get started today. Contact us to get a free quote or call to speak to a United GMG representative directly.
